1. Being aggrieved by denial of disability pension, the applicant has filed the present Original Application under Section 14 of the Armed Forces
Tribunal Act, 2007 wherein he has sought the following reliefs:-
(a) Quash and set aside the impugned letter dated 09.01.1976 as Annexure A-1 Impugned Order.
(b) Direct respondents to grant Disability Pension to the applicant by treating his disability ""Psoriasis (696)"" with assessed @,60% for life as
Attributable to or Aggravated by military service as it has caused due to weather condition as accepted stress and strain of service as law settled by
the Hon'ble Supreme Court cases of Dharamvir Sine: Vs UOI & Ors (Civil Appeal No 4949 o12013) 2013 AIR SCW 4236 and Civil Appeal No
2904/2011 titled as U01 & Others Vs Rajbir Singh decided on 13.02.2015. And/or
(c) Direct Respondents to grant Disability Pension (Service Element as well as Disability Element) @,60% from date of invalided out from service,
i.e., 24.09.1971 and further benefit of rounding off @,60% to 75% wef 01.01.1996 in terms of GO!, MoD letter dated 31.01.2001. 12(16)/2009-
D(Pen/Policv) dated 15.09.2014, Circular No 529 dated 13.10.2014 and GO!, MoD letter No 12(28)/2010-D(Pen/Pol) dated 1(1.02.2014 and PCDA
(Pension) Allahabad Circular No 527 dated 25.04.2014 and to pay the due arrears of Disability Pension with interest @,12% p.a from the date of
discharge to till payment be made which has not been released wilfully.
(d) Any other relief which the Hon 'ble Tribunal may deem fit and proper in the fact and circumstances of the case.
2. Brief facts of the case are that the applicant was enrolled in the Indian Army on 12.03.1964 and was invalided out of service on 13.09.1971 in low
medical category due to 'Psoriasis (696)' having rendered more than 07 years of service. The IMB of the applicant was held on 31.08.1971 at Military
Hospital, Bareilly which had assessed his disability @ 60% for two years and considered as neither attributable to nor aggravated by military service
(NANA). Disability pension claim of the applicant was rejected vide order dated 10.01.1972. Thereafter an Appeal against rejection of disability
pension was preferred by the applicant which was been rejected vide order dated 09.01.1976. It is in this perspective that this O.A. has been filed.
3. Ld. Counsel for the applicant pleaded that the applicant was enrolled in the Indian Army in medically and physically fit condition. It was further
pleaded that a member is to be presumed in sound physical and mental condition upon entering service if there is no note or record to the contrary at
the time of entry. In the event of his subsequently being invalided out from service on medical grounds, any deterioration in his health is to be
presumed due to service conditions. He pleaded that the applicant was under stress and strains due to rigors of service conditions which may have led
to occurrence of the disability. The action of the respondents in denying disability pension to the applicant is illegal. In this regard, he relied on the
decisions of the Hontle Supreme Court in Dharamvir Singh v. Union of India and others, (2013) 7 SCC 316 and Union of India & Another Versus
Rajbir Singh (Civil Appeal No. 2904 of 2011, date of decision 13.02.2015) and submitted that for the purpose of determining attributability of the
disease to military service, what is material is whether the disability was detected at the time of enrolment and if no disability was detected at that
time, then it is to be presumed that the disability arose while in service, therefore, the disability of the applicant is to be considered attributable to or
aggravated by service and he is entitled to get disability pension @60% and the same is to be broad banded to 75%. The Ld. Counsel for the applicant
pleaded for grant of disability pension to the applicant.
4. On the other hand, Ld. Counsel for the respondents submitted that since the 1MB has opined the disability as NANA, the applicant is not entitled to
disability pension. He further accentuated that the applicant is not entitled to disability pension in terms of Rule 173 of Pensions Regulations for the
Army 1961 (Part-I) which stipulates that, ""unless otherwise specifically provided, a disability pension may be granted to an individual who is invalided
out of service on account of a disability which is attributable to or aggravated by military service and is assessed at 20% or over but in the instant case
the disability of the applicant has been assessed at 60% for two years and considered as NANA, therefore the applicant is not entitled to disability
pension. The Ld. Counsel for the respondents further submitted that claim for invalid pension has rightly been rejected by the competent authority in
view of para 198 of Pension Regulations for the Army 1961 (Part-I) which categorically states that the minimum period of qualifying service actually
rendered and required for grant of invalid pension is ten years but in the instant case the applicant has put in only 7 years and 195 days of service. He
pleaded the O.A. to be dismissed.
5. Having heard the learned counsel for both the parties and perused the records, the only question that needs to be answered is, whether the disability
of the applicant is attributable to or aggravated by military service?
6. On careful perusal of the medical documents, it has been observed that the applicant was enrolled on 12.03.1964 and the disease had first started in
Jan1971 i.e. within 7 yearsof joiningthe service. He was administered treatment at Military Hospital, Bareilly till his invalidation. Medical Board
considered the disease as NANA being constitutional in nature and not connected with service.
7. In the above scenario, we have tried to understand the causes of this skin disease called ""Psoriasis"". Medical literature in general describes the
cause of this disease in following terms 'Psoriasis is caused at least in part, by the immune system mistakenly attacking healthy skin cells. If you are
sick or battling an infection, your immune system will go into overdrive to fight the infection. This might start another PSORIASIS flare up'. In view of
the above, it is clear that this skin disease is related to immune system and there is nothing to suggest that this disease can be caused by the stress and
strain of military service. The Invaliding Medical Board is an expert bodyfor deciding attributability of the disability and the IMB in this case has
opined that the disability is NANA.
8. It has been well settled by the Hon'ble Supreme Court that the opinion given by the expert Medical Board should be given due weightage and
credence. While pronouncing judgment in Civil Appeal No 1837/2009, tilted Union of India & Another vs. Ex Rfn Ravinder Kumar, the Hon'ble Apex
Court vide its order dated 23.05.2012 had stated that opinion of Medical Board should not be over ruled judiciously unless there is a very strong
medical evident to do so. Relevant part of judgment is as given under:-
Opinion of the Medical Board should be given primacy in deciding cases of disability pension and the court should not grant such pension
brushing aside the opinion of the Medical Authorities, record the specific finding to the effect that the disability was neither attributable to
nor aggravated by military service, the court should not ignore such a finding for the reason that Medical Board is specialized authority
composed of expert medical doctors and it is the final authority to give opinion regarding attributability and aggravation of the disability
due to military service and the conditions of service resulting in disablement of the individual"".
9. Additionally, in Civil Appeal No 7672 of 2019 in Ex Cfn Narsingh Yadav vs Union of India & Ors it has again been held by the Hon'ble Supreme
Court that certain disorders cannot be detected at the time of recruitment and their subsequent manifestation (in this case after about five years and
nine months of service) does not entitle a person for disability pension unless there are very valid reasons and strong medical evidence to dispute the
opinion of Medical Board. Relevant part of the aforesaid judgment is as given below:-
21. Though, the opinion of the Medical Board is subject to judicial review but the courts are not possessed of expertise to dispute such
report unless there is strong medical evidence on record to dispute the opinion of the Medical Board which may warrant the constitution of
the Review Medical Board.
10. In view of the above, we are of the opinion that we have no valid reasons to interfere with the opinion of IMB, hence we agree with the opinion of
IMB that the disease is NANA. The O.A. is, therefore, devoid of merit and deserves to be dismissed. It is accordingly dismissed.
11. No order as to costs.
12. Pending application(s), if any, also stands disposed of.
Pronounced in the open court on 5th March, 2020.
